The anti-apocalypse – the revealing of the Antichrist; who is he, where will he come from, and how will will recognize him when he rises.

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Anti-Apocalypse – The Revealing of the Antichrist

The Book of Revelation, also referred to by its first lines as “the apocalypse [apokalypsis] of Jesus Christ,” reveals Jesus. Whereas the Old Testament foretells His coming, and the gospels reveal His identity, Revelation reveals His glory, power, and destiny.

But there is another revealing in this book – the revealing of the seed of Satan, the Antichrist. These two opposing forces are first described immediately after man’s fall in Genesis 3. God states, “I will put enmity [hostility] between you and the woman, And between your [Satan’s] seed and her [Eve’s] seed.“

Let’s face it, despite seeing the magnificence of Christ revealed, we tend to focus our attention on the evil seed. For instance, do you think the average Christian knows that Jesus will rule for 1,000 years while Satan is in prison? And that God will burn heaven and earth in fire, and create a new heaven and earth? Does the average Christian know that God the Father and Son will dwell in the New Jerusalem with us on the new earth? Probably not.

But how many people, Christians and even Non-Chrisitans, know about the mark of the Beast and his number 666? Would you say, most?

The popularity of these scriptures about the Antichrist leads to misunderstandings of who he is when read in isolation. In conjunction with Old Testament scripture, the apocalypse reveals who he is, where he comes from, and how will will recognize him when he rises to power.

The Anti-Apocalypse

Genesis 3 informs us that Satan will have seed, or offspring. This seed could be a spirit seed and/or a physical seed akin to the hybrid angel/human Nephilim. We see this combination of spirit and man in Revelation 13. Revelation describes an anti-trinity; three spirits, Satan, the Beast, and the False Prophet. However, chapter 13 describes five entities.

1. Satan (spirit)
2. The Beast from the Sea (spirit)
3. The mouth of the Beast from the Sea (human)
4. The Beast from the Land (spirit)
5. The False Prophet (human)

There will two men in the physical world, but three spirit entities behind them.

The beasts in the physical world are empires, but in the spirit, they are princes or principalities over that empire.

Daniel 7 shows this concept. In Daniel’s vision, the beast resembling a bear represented the Medio-Persian Empire. And this beast was followed by the beast like a leopard, representing the Greek/Macedonian Empire. This vision of the beasts aligns with an angel’s testimony in chapter 10 about the princes behind the beast. The angel stated that the Prince of Persia was in charge, but the Prince of Greece was about to come.

But these beast empires are ruled in the physical world by human kings, influenced by such princes. There may be many kings over time that rule a beast empire. Though the kings of those empires change, the beast and the prince remain.

The Beast of Revelation is described in the same terms as the beasts of Daniel 7, and appears to be an amalgamation of the beasts in Daniel’s vision. So likewise, the Beast from the sea in Revelation will have a spirit prince over it, as well as a human king. This king is the seed that God foretold of in Genesis.

The Antichrist – the Mouth

In the apostle John’s vision in Revelation 13, he sees this king as the mouth of the beast. He wrote, “There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies… And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.“

In Daniel’s vision of the fourth beast, he uses very similar language. “…another horn—a small one—came up between them,… This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant things.“

So we know this “mouth” or “horn” as the Antichrist. Both Daniel and Revelation tell us that this king will make war, and he will war against the saints. Both books also state that he will have authority for 3 1/2 years and that God will end his rule.

The Antichrist is the seed of Satan from Genesis 3. He is the opposite of Christ; he opposes him and stands in opposition to his ways. So there are some intriguing things we can deduce from this opposition.

The Opposite of Christ

Jesus’ ministry lasted approximately 3 1/2 years, as derived from scripture. This period would have come at the end of a seven-year period (a shemitah) as foretold by the angel Gabriel to Daniel in Daniel 9:26. So Jesus’s ministry took place during the last 3 1/2 years of a seven-year period.

This 3 1/2-year period is hugely significant and is referenced often in Revelation and Daniel. The most notable is that the Beast is given authority to rule for forty-two months, or 3 1/2 years. And like, Jesus, the Antichrist’s reign will occur during the last 3 1/2 years of a seven-year period as foretold by the angel Gabriel one sentence later in Daniel 9:27.

So just as Jesus’ ministry was cut-off after 3 1/2 years, so shall the Antichrist only have 3 1/2 years to rule. But while Jesus’ ministry was a ministry of light and life, the Antichrist’s ministry will be of darkness and death. This difference is one of many opposites:

• First, Jesus always praised the Father, the exact opposite of the Antichrist, who will blaspheme Him.
• Jesus freed captives, and the Antichrist will take people captive.
• Interestingly, Jesus gave authority to 12 apostles (12 is generally a number for divine completeness), and the Antichrist will take authority from 10 kings (10 is generally a number for completeness in creation/man).
• Denying the beast will bring physical death, but denying Jesus will bring eternal death.
• Surrendering to Jesus brings everlasting life, while surrendering to the Antichrist brings eternal damnation.
• While Jesus was resurrected, there are hints in the Bible that the Antichrist may die and be revived through a false resurrection. (I would call this questionable, but possible.)

Notice in the the third and fourth point that the Antichrist is connected the physical world, while Jesus is connected to the divine. The Beast rules an earthly empire and will rise from the sea, which can symbolize peoples, in particular those from gentile nations. And his number 666 indicates this as well. The number 6 is the number for man in the Bible, while seven represents the divine.

In these ways we will recognize the Antichrist. So where will he come from?

The Identity of the Beast

We know that the Antichrist is the ruler of the Beast empire. So if we can identify the Beast empire, we can identify the source of its leader.

A rebirth of the Islamic Caliphate is the most likely Beast empire. This is the only empire that meets all of the criteria found in Revelation, Daniel, and Ezekiel. I have written blog posts on this topic before, but rather than repeat all of the reasons why, I will reference the posts down below. Here are some of the primary points:

1. The Islamic Caliphate is the only empire after Alexander the Great, that “devoured, crushed and trampled” the Babylonian, Persian, and Greek/Macedonian empires per Daniel 7. (Rome did not.)
2. The nations listed in Ezekiel 38 are located in modern Islamic countries.
3. Islamic countries carry the desire to destroy Israel, currently trample on the temple mount, and in war, use beheadings as a method of execution.
4. The “people of the prince to come” who Gabriel prophesied would destroy the temple in Daniel 9:26, were Roman legions comprised of locals from modern-day Islamic countries Turkey and Syria.

The last vestige of the Islamic Caliphate was the Ottoman Empire, which was “slain” 100 years ago. A revived Islamic/Ottoman Caliphate would meet the requirements for the seventh head of the beast, which was slain and healed. Also. John wrote in Revelation 17 that one empire had “not yet come.” This prophecy was likely fulfilled by the Islamic caliphate. Therefore a revived Islamic/Ottoman Caliphate would match John’s description that the beast empire would be the eighth empire but would be one of the seven previous empires.

But this empire will not be like the Islamic countries we see today. It will be far more powerful.

The Identity of the Prince

Its prince will be an old entity, and we know this because John wrote in Revelation 17 that the beast will rise from the abyss.

For many years I believed that this entity is the one described in Ezekiel 31 and Isaiah 14; a fallen angel who stood high above the other angels. But because of his haughtiness and wickedness, God sent him down to Sheol, the underworld.

Writer Derrick Gilbert recently wrote a book called The Second Coming of Saturn. In this book he identified this entity as Shemihazah, the leader of the angelic rebellion named in the Book of Enoch and referred to in Genesis 6. He points to the myths of many cultures that describe a god being thrown down into the abyss. He was known as Kronos by the Greeks and Saturn by the Romans.

John calls his name Abaddon in Hebrew and Apolyon in Greek, meaning the destroyer. We know from many scriptures that Abaddon is often analogous to the abyss, the prison of fallen angels as written of by Peter and Jude.

So how will we recognize the Antichrist?

Recognizing the Antichrist

Prophetic scripture about his attack on Israel gives us some insight. Ezekiel wrote that Gog (another name for the antichrist) is “of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” These areas are believed to be in Asia Minor, primarily in modern-day Turkey and Northern Syria. Some will argue that the word for chief, rosh, sounds like Russia and will include Russia in this mix. I won’t say that this is impossible, but it is a stretch. See Note D in the New English Translation for more on this.

So this leader will come from the regions of Turkey or Syria. This fits the description of the Beast.

It appears from Daniel’s wording that the leader of this empire will rise from nothing and quickly gain power. Daniel wrote, “While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them.” We also know from Daniel that this leader will uproot three other kings.

So it is possible that this leader will be young. Now I realize this is speculation, but given that the Antichrist will be active in his role for 3 1/2 years, just as Jesus was, and if he comes to power during the first seven years of the last jubilee of the age, just as Jesus did, then I wonder if he may also be age 30 at the start of the his 3 1/2 year reign as Jesus was.

Putting aside speculation, there is one way we will surely know the Antichrist. That is when he invades Israel and seats himself in the temple of God.

The Anti-Apocalypse of Another

Throughout the Bible, there are references to the Antichrist under many different names. There are at least sixteen, including the man of lawlessness, the son of destructions, and the cruel master. But surpringly, John is the only writer in the Bible who used the name “Antichrist” but not in Revelation. Why is this?

Although John coined the term Antichrist, he did so from an earthly perspective, referring to a spirit over false prophets and a man who will be of this spirit. But in Revelation, he viewed the events of the end-times from a heavenly perspective. In heaven, he saw the spirits of the end of the age. And he recognized them from Daniel’s writings and used the terminology that Daniel used.

But there was a revelation to John that had not been previously revealed regarding the nature of this antichrist spirit.

There would be two… the Beast and the False Prophet.

Nowhere else in the Bible does it show that two beings will share the role of the Antichrist. Every prior reference to Satan’s seed is singular. And every time the Bible mentions false prophets, it refers to them generally.

So in the next post, I will dig into this False Prophet and why Satan will use this spirit in the Anti-Apocalypse of the Deceiver.

But though I am writing about this anti-apocalypse, I encourage you not to focus your thoughts on this, but on Jesus. Focus on His goodness, His power, and His love. In doing so, you will have love as people turn hateful, peace as the world is in turmoil, and joy when the future looks bleak.

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Related Posts:

The Identity of the Beast of Revelation

Ottoman Empire – The Beast Reviving and Claiming Former Territories

How to Recognize the Mark of the Beast

Antichrist Spirit Rising: The Paradigm at the End of the Ages

How to See the God of Love and Mercy Among the Wrath of Revelation

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